Mechanisms are required to mate and unmate (especially where repetitive mating and Unmating is required) electrical and fluid connectors in hazardous or very remote environments, principally in space stations, but potentially also in nuclear reactor, toxic chemical, and undersea environments. Such mechanism may require shields to protect the mating faces of the connectors when they are unmated and to move the shields out of the way during mating. As the connectors are mated or unmated, it is desirable to provide a force-transmitting structure to transmit the forces between the connectors. It would be desirable if the mechanism for moving the connectors and shields were highly reliable yet as simple as possible, and if a lightweight structure for transmitting forces between connectors were as lightweight as possible.